By Weston Williams

W inter nights in rural Maine are marked by a dense silence， reinforced by the snow-laden landscape.2 As someone who grew up in a city， I am acutely aware of this and sometimes find myself straining， as I lie in bed， for evidence of civilization beyond the walls of my house.3 Every so often I receive it—the passing rumble4 of the freight train.

The railroad tracks lie not 500 feet from my front door. I drive or walk over them every day， and when I do， I often take time to glance down their length， to where the shining rails coalesce5 and disappear into the woods in the distance. I may even get to see the train itself. I watch as it approaches， slowly and inexorably， its boxcars swaying on straining sleepers.6 As I sit in my idling car before the blinking warning lights， I have a frontrow seat to one of industrial Americas great shows as the behemoth clanks and squeals past me， its engineer ensconced high up in the black diesel locomotive like a pasha.7

Seeing the train by day is always a treat， but hearing it in the dead of night is comforting.

Long before it reaches the crossing8 I can sense its approach. Its not quite a rumbling yet， but rather a perception that the earth is being disturbed in some deep， subterranean manner.9 And then I hear it—the gnashing of metal as the boxcars yaw and bang.10 Finally， after these preliminaries， the climax： the airsplitting blast of the horn， two long bleats， one short， and a concluding long.11 Once past the crossing， the train clanks down the line toward Bangor， falls silent， and I drift off12 to sleep.

There are people who wrinkle their noses at the idea of living near a freight railway， as if it were unseemly.13 Now and then I am asked if the noise bothers me. Bothers？ The only time I was bothered was a few months ago when， inexplicably14， the train ceased running. I walked down to the rails and stared to the left and right， like a parent anxious about an overdue15 child. What on earth had become of my train？

I asked around town， but all I got was corroboration16 by others who lived along the line that it hadnt been heard from in the longest time. I took my consternation17 to bed with me on a particularly cold night， and I determined to call the railway in the morning to ask about its wellbeing. But no sooner had I made this resolution than I heard it： the premonitory disturbance of the outside world as something large and muscular crept upon its surface.18 And then the clanking， and the yawing， and the triumphant19 blasts of the horn. You might wonder how such a racket20 could put me to sleep. But， like a lullaby， thats exactly what it did.

I know this is an idle fantasy， but Ive been trying to contrive21 some （legal） way of getting a ride on the freight train. I am mindful of something the great travel writer Paul Theroux said， “I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it.”22

In this light， just yesterday， while I was splitting wood at the edge of dusk， I sensed it： that earth movement in the distance. Dropping my maul， I ambled down the snow-banked road to the tracks and waited.23 She loomed， she rattled， she approached， and finally arrived in all her majesty.24 I looked up at the train driver. He looked down at me. His smile acknowledged that he knew what I wanted. I realized he couldnt take me with him， but it didnt really matter： I was already swept up25 and on my way.

All that remained was the night， and bed， and silence， and the arrival of the next train to tell me that all was well.

1. freight： 貨運；lullaby： 搖籃曲，催眠曲。

2. 在緬因州的鄉(xiāng)村，冬季的夜晚萬籟俱寂，四處茫茫白雪覆蓋，靜上加靜。Maine： 緬因州，美國東北部新英格蘭地區(qū)的一個州。

3. 作為一個在城市長大的人，我敏銳地察覺到了這一點；有時我躺在床上，發(fā)現(xiàn)自己翹首企盼著墻外傳來現(xiàn)代文明的音跡。strain： 竭盡全力。

4. rumble： 隆隆聲。

5. coalesce： 合并，結(jié)合。

6. 我看著火車緩緩駛近，不可阻擋，貨車車廂在不堪重負(fù)的枕木上搖搖晃晃。inexorably：不可阻擋地；sleeper： 鐵路的枕木，軌枕。

7. 我坐在空轉(zhuǎn)的汽車?yán)?，在閃爍的警示燈前，這個龐然大物當(dāng)啷作響尖鳴著從我身旁呼嘯而過，我仿佛坐賞工業(yè)化的美國的一場盛宴，貨車司機(jī)就像一位高官，安坐在高高的柴油火車的黑色火車頭里。idling： 空轉(zhuǎn)的；behemoth： 龐然大物；clank： 發(fā)出當(dāng)啷聲；squeal： 尖叫；ensconce： 安置，安坐；diesel： 柴油；locomotive： 機(jī)車，火車頭；pasha： 擁有帕夏稱號的高級文官或武官，帕夏是舊時奧斯曼帝國和北非高級文武官員的稱號，置于姓名后。

8. crossing： 鐵路的轍叉，道口。

9. 那時還聽不到轟隆聲，只能感覺到地下深處有什么在攪動著土地。subterranean： 地下的。

10. 然后，火車偏航，砰砰直響，我聽到了金屬摩擦的聲音。gnash： 咬牙，磨牙；yaw：偏航。

11. 這些開場之后，便迎來了最后的高潮：震耳欲聾、沖破天際的汽笛聲，兩聲拉長的嗶嗶聲，一短，最后再一長。preliminary： 初步行動，準(zhǔn)備工作；climax： 高潮；blast： 轟鳴；bleat： 羊或小牛般的叫聲。

12. drift off： 迷迷糊糊地睡去。

13. wrinkle ones nose： 皺鼻子，表示驚訝、不確定或是反感等；unseemly： 不適宜的。

14. inexplicably： 莫名地，費解地。

15. overdue： 過期未到的，延誤的，此處指過了預(yù)產(chǎn)期還沒出生的。

16. corroboration： 確證，證實。

17. consternation： 驚慌失措。

18. 然而，我剛作了這個決定就聽到了外面的騷動，仿佛有什么龐大健壯的東西爬上了地表。premonitory： 先兆的，預(yù)兆的。

19. triumphant： 得意洋洋的，勝利的。

20. racket： 喧嘩，吵鬧。

21. contrive： 策劃，想出。

22. mindful： 念及的，留心的；Paul Theroux：保羅·索魯，美國旅行作家和小說家，最著名的作品是1975年的《火車大巴扎》。

23. maul： 大錘；amble： 漫步；snowbanked： 積雪的，堆雪的。

24. loom： 隱現(xiàn)，隱約可見；rattle： 嘎啦嘎啦地響；majesty： 莊嚴(yán)，雄偉。

25. sweep up： 飛快地抱起，此處指作者的思緒已經(jīng)隨著飛馳的火車奔向遠(yuǎn)方。